Laisenia Qarase citations (57 citations)

“Two thousand and five is our Year of Forgiveness in Fiji. Again, we are seeking God’s help in reconciliation and in making the country whole. Each of the great religions teaches forgiveness. That is a golden thread that links them.”

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Laisenia Qarase

Additional remarks about the proposed Reconciliation and Unity Commission, Address to the nation at the National Day of Prayer in Fiji combined church service http://www.fiji.gov.fj/publish/page_4615.shtml, Post Fiji Stadium, Suva, 15 May 2005

“The sections of the Bill dealing with amnesty were not plucked out of thin air. They have been taken from legislation adopted and successfully used elsewhere. The principles of amnesty are well known and accepted internationally. We have done the research on this.”

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Laisenia Qarase

14 June 2005
Additional remarks about the proposed Reconciliation and Unity Commission

“It has, understandably, aggrieved our Muslim community. Their religion and its founder have been insulted, and ridiculed.”

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Laisenia Qarase

( Fiji Live http://www.Fijilive.com).
Reaction to the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, 7 February 2006

“Let us respect each other and avoid causing unnecessary hurt to those with beliefs and faiths different from ours.”

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Laisenia Qarase

( Pacific Magazine http://www.pacificmagazine.net).
Reaction to the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, 7 February 2006

“We are trying to establish a process beginning with problems arising from 2000. In the second part of the Bill we propose to establish a permanent national council for promotion of reconciliation, unity and tolerance and that to me is most important part of this Bill.”

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Laisenia Qarase

Additional remarks about the proposed Reconciliation and Unity Commission, Response to continuing opposition to the Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Unity Bill, 30 July 2005

“For our country, it is vitally important, as a factor for long-standing stability, that we always maintain a careful balance between the rights of individuals and communities, the special interests of indigenous people, including their right of ownership to their natural resources must also be protected.”

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Laisenia Qarase

Address to the United Nations General Assembly, 17 September 2005 (excerpts)

“"Fiji can make a similar report on the US on all those issues. Our report would be far worse than the US state department's report on Fiji." (2 March 2005, reacting to a US State Department report critical on the state of race relations in Fiji).”

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Laisenia Qarase

Miscellaneous quotes

“Good governance is also about rooting out corruption, which is a stain on the integrity of any nation.”

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Laisenia Qarase

Excerpts from a speech to the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific, 13 May 2005

“In 2000 Fiji experienced the greatest crisis in its contemporary history … Fiji came close to complete collapse and anarchy; some form of civil war was a real possibility. This would not only have pitted Fijians against Indians but Fijians against Fijians, and Province against Province. But the country did not fall. It stepped back from the brink. It drew on its inner strength and a vein of tolerance and restraint and began the task of remaking Fiji.”

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Laisenia Qarase

“This doctrine was not so much to do with sinlessness but with personal growth. It is about the attitude that should guide us in our relationships with others according to the commandment of loving your neighbor. I will just add that I am far from perfect in my faith. I often stumble and fall but I will never stop striving to serve God in the best way I can, to honor him and to serve the purpose for which he has called me. I know in my heart that what has transpired since the elections are part of God's plan for Fiji. He has given me a part to play in this and I cannot refuse it.”

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Laisenia Qarase

quoted in Fiji Village http://www.Fijivillage.com/news
Interview, 16 June 2006

“For Christians, the rules are clear. They are under order to forgive. We must follow those orders, no matter how difficult they appear. If we do not forgive, God will not forgive us. That is the beginning and the end of it.”

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Laisenia Qarase

Additional remarks about the proposed Reconciliation and Unity Commission, Address to the nation at the National Day of Prayer in Fiji combined church service http://www.fiji.gov.fj/publish/page_4615.shtml, Post Fiji Stadium, Suva, 15 May 2005

“We remain dedicated to accomplishing greater social justice through a fairer sharing of wealth and opportunity. We will stay the course, because it is right for Fiji.”

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Laisenia Qarase

Excerpts from an address to the Commonwealth Workshop in Nadi, 29 August 2005

“The foundation in which the Bill was introduced was for the Government to offer a political solution that was legally binding, because if the Government had not introduced the Unity Bill, the investigations will never end. Trial after trial and the list goes on. About 2500 people have been investigated. Those who turned up in Parliament was close to 20,000 people. I mean, if 10,000 to 20,000 people are going to be investigated, God knows when it will end.”

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Laisenia Qarase

8 July 2005
Additional remarks about the proposed Reconciliation and Unity Commission

“Don't worry if some of your peers think that a strong commitment to Christianity is not very fashionable. You can be as fashionable as you want, while still believing in Jesus and giving witness to him.”

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Laisenia Qarase

Excerpts from a speech to the Christian Youth Conference in Suva, 15 May 2005

“As leaders of our respective countries, we are faced with the same challenge of forging greater unity and cohesiveness in our diverse societies, and I share your view that this requires leadership committed to the welfare and interests of all citizens and communities.”

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Laisenia Qarase

Letter to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, 20 October 2005 (excerpts)

“I think it would be a pity if Chaudhry brushed aside majority Fijian opinion on a major issue. He has done this before and it will be a sad day for Fiji if he does that again this time.”

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Laisenia Qarase

Additional remarks about the proposed Reconciliation and Unity Commission, Response to continuing opposition to the Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Unity Bill, 30 July 2005

“It requires commitment, vision and will. Differences of ethnicity and multi-culturalism have to be managed and accommodated. It is a difficult balancing act, which must take account of the interests of all communities.”

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Laisenia Qarase

Excerpts from an address to the Commonwealth Workshop in Nadi, 29 August 2005

“"I believe that the chiefs of Fiji have relevance for all our citizens not just the Fijians, they still represent stability, order and continuity. If the chiefs were diminished, the entire nation would be weakened and be vulnerable"..”

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Laisenia Qarase

Excerpt from speech to mark the week of Ratu Sukuna Day celebrations, 24 May 2005

“Labour will try to convince you that it is sympathetic to business. Don’t believe such stories. The truth is that the party has a classic left-wing suspicion of business and the profit motive.”

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Laisenia Qarase

Address to the annual conference of the Fiji Employers Federation, 2 September 2005

“WTO (the World Trade Organization) is trying to impose equality of trade in an unequal world, but for developing countries like Fiji there is no level playing field, just a slippery slope.”

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Laisenia Qarase

Address to the 18th Australia-Fiji Business Forum, Shangri-La Fijian Resort, Sydney, Australia, 17 October 2005 (excerpts)

“Christianity took Ratu Cakobau and the Fijians from the way of the club, to the way of peace. Our islands were transformed forever.”

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Laisenia Qarase

Additional remarks about the proposed Reconciliation and Unity Commission, Address to the nation at the National Day of Prayer in Fiji combined church service http://www.fiji.gov.fj/publish/page_4615.shtml, Post Fiji Stadium, Suva, 15 May 2005